JA Adobe Software Maint and Support SEWP.pdf

Control Number VA-20-00047942

JUSTIFICATION

FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, NJ 07724

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a firm-fixed-price delivery order issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise- Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand name Adobe Acrobat Professional (Document Cloud (DC) software licenses, subscription renewals for existing Adobe Professional DC software licenses, Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Forms software subscriptions and support renewal packages. This proposed action will also provide maintenance and technical support to existing Adobe software products.

Furthermore, optional quantities will be included to purchase additional quantities of the aforementioned software license subscriptions and support and to renew the additional software licenses and subscriptions that were previously exercised.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information and Technology, Information Technology Operations and Services has a requirement to procure additional brand name Adobe Acrobat Professional DC software licenses, subscription renewals for existing Adobe Professional DC software licenses, AEM Forms software subscriptions and support renewal packages. This proposed action will also provide maintenance and technical support to existing Adobe software products. This software is used by forms management staff across all organizations/pillars of VA. Over the past decade, VA’s Forms Managers supporting Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), and National Cemetery Administration (NCA) program offices rely daily on the technical cohesion of capabilities collectively delivered by several Adobe software products (i.e., Adobe Acrobat Professional DC desktop application, as well as, the Adobe Forms Designer and Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Extensions component are now bundled in the AEM Forms software) to support multiple forms development workflows among VA’s Administrations. These customizable workflows help Forms Managers to internally design, manage, and publish Agency-specific standardized forms for Veterans and VA staff to electronically access, complete, and download via the One VA Forms portal.

Information subsequently submitted in these standardized forms streamlines VA data processing and reviews to timely deliver the associated Veterans’ services. These portable document format (PDF) forms have provided VA a cost-effective method to publish agency-specific standardized forms for Veterans to electronically access and complete the required forms via the freeware version of the Adobe Acrobat Reader DC product without burdening Veterans with an additional software cost to collaborate electronically with VA. Adobe Acrobat Professional DC software provides the ability to create and edit PDF documents utilized among VA staff across the enterprise as a method of informing Veterans of services and employees of VA policy, guidance and procedures. AEM Forms simplifies the management and delivery of VA websites' content and assets and reduces the complexity of delivering online experiences to VA’s Veterans and customers. The required maintenance and technical support include updates, bug fixes and upgrades to existing Adobe products as well as technical support services by Adobe certified technicians. VA also requires additional Adobe Acrobat Professional DC subscription-based software licenses to meet the demands of VA’s growing enterprise and the anticipated growth in usage over the lifecycle of the contract. The option for the additional Adobe Acrobat DC subscription-based

Adobe Software Maintenance Control Number VA-20-00047942 software licenses can be exercised in the base period and in each of the option periods.

The period of performance for this proposed action will consist of a 12-month base period and two, 12-month option periods to allow for continued access and support of the software products.

4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(a)(4), the following brand name requirement is being justified and approved as an exception to fair opportunity under the statutory authority of Section 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by the FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), entitled “Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on market research, as described in paragraph eight of this document, it was determined that limited competition is anticipated for this procurement. VA currently utilizes Adobe Acrobat Pro DC desktop subscription-based software licenses and AEM Forms core server software licenses throughout VA to continually update and design forms. The current inventory of VA PDF forms includes forms created using the predecessor Adobe forms designer tool (i.e., Adobe LiveCycle was replaced by AEM Forms). These forms were built using Adobe’s proprietary file format known as Extensible Markup Language (XML) Forms Architecture (XFA) as they were designed to work specifically with Adobe’s complementary PDF viewer (i.e., Adobe Acrobat Reader DC). Adobe’s current AEM Forms Designer component within the AEM Forms software suite is designed to edit existing XFA forms and convert XFA forms into hypertext markup language or Adobe’s XML data package file formats. The ability of VA Forms Managers to continue to edit their existing inventory of XFA-based forms is required to ensure continuity of VA’s current business operations support for VA program offices delivering services to Veterans who rely on timely support from VA’s VHA, VBA, and NCA Administrations. Neither of the alternative products, Kofax (i.e., formerly a Nuance PDF product) Power PDF Enterprise (Kofax) and Foxit’s Phantom PDF Business (Foxit) are capable of creating and editing XFA forms.

The Adobe Acrobat Reader DC product is part of VA’s Standard Baseline Technology to support VA staff’s internal use of the PDF viewer. VA Forms Managers have used the Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Extensions component, now bundled within the AEM Forms product suite, to share several hundreds of PDF documents with Veterans and VA staff by extending the functionality of Acrobat Reader DC with additional usage rights. The additional usage rights activate features that are not usually available when a PDF document is opened using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. Users do not require additional software or plug-ins to work with these rights-enabled documents. VA requires the continuation of extending Adobe Acrobat Reader DC to do the following: filling in form fields and saving files locally including importing and exporting form data as Forms Data Format and XML; adding, updating or deleting PDF Form fields and their properties; creating pages in a PDF form from template pages; digitally signing and saving PDF documents; removing digital signatures; and creating, modifying and saving document annotations and comments to and from a file and modifying embedded file objects associated with the PDF document.

Neither Kofax’s or Foxit’s products are able to extend the PDF Viewer’s capabilities through the additional usage rights to activate all of the additional features and functionalities which VA requires.

Additionally, only Adobe Acrobat Professional DC and all AEM Forms desktop software components are supported by third-party providers to extend its capabilities via plug-in capabilities to address 508 accessibility requirements. VA’s Section 508 office and staff across VA’s enterprise currently leverage Adobe Acrobat Professional DC software interfacing with the CommonLook PDF component capabilities to optimize VA’s 508 Office capabilities to evaluate and conform PDF documents to current Web Content Access Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 specifications required to address Federal Section 508 regulations as mandated by Section 508 (29 U.S.C. 794d) of the Rehabilitation Act. Specifically, these functionalities that are unique to Adobe allows for the creation of PDF documents that are fully accessible to assist Veterans and employees with disabilities such as mobility impairments, blindness, and low vision. Adobe Acrobat Professional DC is an application that can create and edit a PDF document to make it accessible. It has a number of tools for evaluating and repairing the accessibility of PDF files, including access to the structure root through the tags panel, the ability to directly manipulate the reading order through the order panel, a built-in accessibility checker, and the Touch Up Reading Order tool which provides a graphical mechanism for assessing and repairing the accessibility of a PDF document.

Foxit’s Mac product does not support creating or editing tagged PDFs. Kofax’s MacIntosh version does not provide the fuller scope of accessibility remediation and verification capabilities which its Windows advanced product version provides to meet VA’s requirements.

The Government currently needs to manage (i.e., view, create, edit, review, comment, sign, send, print) and collaborate using PDF documents on any device. VA requires the product delivering these capabilities to be installed on both Windows-based and Mac-based devices, as well as, Android, iPhone and iPad devices. Kofax’s Power PDF Advanced and Enterprise products support Windows and provides Kofax Power PDF Standard product for MacIntosh Apple-based devices. However, Kofax’s MacIntosh version does not provide the fuller scope of scanning, document conversion/merging, document handling automation, or accessibility remediation and verification capabilities which its Windows advanced product version provides to meet VA’s requirements. In addition, Kofax Power PDF products do not have an associated mobile application.

Additionally, only Adobe maintenance and technical support can be used for Adobe products as they are the only supplier of software updates (to include all version updates and bug fixes) and technical support. Any other source would require access to Adobe’s proprietary source code in order to meet VA’s needs. This proprietary source code is needed to access the Adobe code structure to make sure the maintenance and technical support provided meets VA’s requirements of ensuring the software remains operational.

The Government contacted Adobe in March 2020 to ascertain if this proprietary source code was for sale and was advised it is not. Renewal of the current software maintenance and support is required to ensure continuity of maintenance and support for the existing Adobe software products.

The proposed sources for continued software maintenance and support of Adobe Acrobat Professional DC software licenses and AEM Forms software including components are Adobe, Incorporated and their authorized resellers/partners. VA has determined that Adobe or their authorized resellers and/or partners of Adobe software products are the only sources that can provide the aforementioned software maintenance and support services required. The Government does not possess the technical knowledge necessary for the support of Adobe software. Without this technical knowledge, no other source has the ability to provide the aforementioned Adobe software maintenance and support services other than Adobe or an Adobe authorized reseller/partner. Failure to acquire the aforementioned maintenance and support services would prevent VA users/customers (employees and Veterans) from being able to perform the essential functions necessary for providing excellent patient care to our nation’s Veterans.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in Section 8 of this justification. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government's requirements. However, the undersigned VA technical representative determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for brand name Adobe subscriptions, as well as software maintenance and technical support. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(1), this justification will be provided with the solicitation to all appropriate NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. Furthermore, in accordance with FAR 5.301, 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), and 16.505(a)(4)(iii), the award notice for this action will be synopsized on the Contract Opportunities website and this justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of award.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: In order to remove or overcome any barriers to competition in future acquisitions for this requirement, VA will continue to conduct market research to identify other PDF applications that are capable of meeting all of the Government’s requirements. Should such products become available, VA will review and consider these products for future requirements. Furthermore, VA will continue to monitor software recommendations/approvals issued by the Section 508 Program Office.

8. Market Research: The Government’s technical experts conducted market research to ascertain if any other sources were capable of meeting VA’s needs and technical requirements. In May 2020, VA conducted additional online research to see if there were other products with the required capabilities. Alternative products such as Kofax’s PowerPDF Enterprise and Foxit’s PhantomPDF Business with similar capabilities were researched. Based on the Government’s market research, Kofax and Foxit were not capable of meeting all of VA’s technical requirements.

Neither Kofax or Foxit are capable of creating and editing XFA forms. In addition, neither of these alternative products are able to extend the PDF Viewer’s capabilities through the additional usage rights to activate all of the additional features and functionalities which VA requires.

Also, it was determined that neither of the two alternative products evaluated are capable of meeting VA’s Section 508 accessibility requirements. Foxit’s Mac product does not support creating or editing tagged PDFs. Foxit’s capability to verify the accessibility of PDF documents is limited to directing the user to Foxit’s online documentation that outlines the issue and often tells you how to fix it, but primarily by manual method(s). Neither the Kofax or Foxit’s Windows-based products provide the scale of capabilities VA requires to evaluate and conform PDF documents to the current WCAG 2.1 specifications required to address Federal Section 508 regulations as mandated by Section 508 (29 U.S.C. 794d) of the Rehabilitation Act. Neither of these two alternative software products are able to interface with the Common Look PDF component capabilities which is a VA requirement.

In addition, Kofax’s MacIntosh version does not provide the fuller scope of scanning, document conversion/merging, document handling automation, or accessibility remediation and verification capabilities which its Windows advanced product version provides to meet VA’s requirements. Kofax products do not have an associated mobile application.

Based on the Government’s market research and the alternative software products available in the marketplace that were evaluated, no other PDF product other than brand name Adobe can meet all of VA’s accessibility and/or functional requirements.

Due to the proprietary nature of the source code, it was concluded that there are no other service providers that can provide the maintenance and technical support without the proprietary source code as outlined in paragraph 5 of this justification. Adobe is the only source provider that can provide software maintenance and support of Adobe’s proprietary software products.

Additional market research was conducted in April 2020 by posting an RFI on NASA SEWP V GWAC to identify Adobe resellers. There were 12 SEWP contract holders that responded to the RFI with their proposed offers and it was determined by VA’s technical representative that all offerors could meet VA’s requirements. Two of the 12 contract holders that responded to the RFI are Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs), which are registered and verified in the Vendor Information Pages (VIP) database. In June 2020 the NASA SEWP V GWAC Provider Lookup tool was also utilized and identified multiple authorized resellers of the brand name Adobe products and services. Specifically, the Lookup tool results indicated there are four SDVOSB authorized resellers in Group B(2) that are registered and verified in the VIP database.

9. Other Facts: None.